What Our Students Face Today

Thanks to a long time subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net for sending us this link of a video that shows what our students face today.  The video shows why the youth in the Occupy movement across America is so frustrated not only in not finding a job but not even getting an interview.

America Needs The FairTax - Not Bogus Tax Reform

Now that Mitt Romney has been running for president for over five years he & his aides decided it was time to present a tax reform plan – which they did this past week.  Of course it was one that tinkered around the edges of the current 70,000 page code, paid no concern as to whether or not it increased the deficit, & plays right into BO's class warfare theme.

 

Worse, is that BO & his aides thought it was time for them to release their own tax reform plan.  This one masquerades as a pro-growth rate-cutting plan that really raises the effective corporate tax rate thereby making America less competitive in the global economy than we are today – all per BO's design.  Republican Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, applauded BO for his overall goal of lowering rates & closing loopholes.  Please consider the source of this compliment – last week Camp voted as Boehner instructed in supporting the bill that extended both the payroll tax holiday & unemployment compensation – a bill with no fiscal responsibility.  This is an example of why many of us feel we have no chance with the current two party system.

 

Thanks to our SC businessman who sent us the piece below, written by Mike Brownfield of the Heritage Foundation, along with the note "I picked this up from our local Tea Party.  I knew BO's business tax plan sounded too good to be true."  In fact it is a total obfuscation.

 

America is screaming for the FairTax while all of our enemies currently running for the presidency in the two wings of the Big Government Party – specifically Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, & BO – continue to present pitiful statist plans that pick winners & losers @ the expense of the rest of us.  They will continue to do this until enough of us realize what they are doing to our future.

 

Obama's Crony Capitalist Trap Door

 

The Obama White House says it hates tax "loopholes," and the American people abhor them with good reason. They're the ultimate in unfairness, allowing those in the know to wiggle their way out of playing by the same rules that apply to the rest of us. That's why, at first glance, the Obama Administration's latest "framework" to cut the corporate tax rate while closing corporate tax loopholes might sound like a good twofer.

Before you give the President a gold star for good governance, take a step back, turn up the lights, look around the room, and you'll see that President Obama has replaced some of those tax loopholes with a giant trap door that's just the right size for all of his political cronies to slip through.

Here are the details of Obama's latest crony capitalist ploy. Yesterday, the President proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. That's certainly a landmark moment – a liberal President calling for a lower corporate tax rate is a Nixon goes to China moment. It's also long overdue, considering that the U.S. corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world, making it nearly impossible for American companies to compete in the global economy. But here's where the trouble begins.

Under the President's "framework," he singles out specific industries he doesn't like -- oil and gas, insurance, and small aircraft manufacturers, for example -- and proposes to close what he asserts are their loopholes, thereby raising their taxes. But with his other hand, he opens a trap door and waves his friends through, cutting their tax rates to 25 percent "and to an even lower rate for income from advanced manufacturing activities."

The President's best friends get access to second trap door leading to even lower rates. Who slides on through? Those who qualify for tax incentives designed to "encourage investment in clean energy." The net effect of all this tax reform subterfuge will be a free pass for the "right" industries, a downfall for the "wrong" ones, and a windfall for lobbyists who can get their clients through the trap doors.

By the way, this new plan to make America's businesses "more competitive" is slated to raise $250 billion over 10 years. You read that correctly: The President is trying to convince America he is lowering taxes to make America stronger by, well, raising taxes to make America weaker.

Another example of how Obama likes to slam those who offend is a set of disastrous proposals for U.S. multinational corporations -- companies that earn income at home and abroad. Today, if a company earns money overseas, it is taxed by the foreign government, taxed again at home, and then run through some convoluted rules to prevent double taxation. Instead of eliminating that domestic double tax (like most countries have), President Obama wants to tax foreign earnings even more heavily. He says he wants to prevent companies from outsourcing around the world.

But instead of convincing those companies to keep their work in the United States, the President will encourage them to close up shop and sell the whole company to the highest foreign bidder. The result? A tax-induced fire sale on U.S. companies sold to foreign companies so that none of their profits will be subject to taxation, and U.S. tax revenues and economic fortunes will plummet.

Next step? American workers will be left holding the bag. Remember that President Obama said he wants to raise corporate taxes on net. Combined with his budget proposal to nearly triple the dividend tax rate, the net effect is likely to raise the hurdle rate on business investment, which means less business investment. Less investment means labor productivity growth slows, and so wage growth slows. In other words, the President would leave American companies less competitive, and he would leave American workers with lower wages.

Tax reform shouldn't work this way. America shouldn't work this way. The U.S. corporate tax rate is too high, and real reform can bring it down. Congress and the President should pursue revenue-neutral corporate tax reform centered on, reducing the corporate tax rate, and reducing the tax rate on small, non-corporate businesses as well, and work to make U.S. companies more competitive around the world. That's a far fairer, far smarter plan than a trapdoor tax policy that benefits the few, the proud, and the privileged.

Payroll-Tax Cut Extension Vote

Last Friday both houses of Congress passed "a bill to extend the payroll tax holiday, unemployment compensation, Medicare physician payment, provide for the consideration of the Keystone XL pipeline, and for other purposes."  Of course this is just another bill with no fiscal responsibility for those who voted for it like NJ's Frelinghuysen, Lance, Runyan, & LoBiondo.  Republicans once again showed they are Democrat–lite amateurs in the give away game. 

 

The biggest disappointment on the Senate side is FL Senator Marco Rubio who voted for the bill.  The many who are touting Rubio as a VP candidate should ask what is he thinking here? – or ask themselves what are they thinking endorsing Rubio who has several other suspicious votes I have exposed.

 

In summary the bill will extend a cut in workers' payroll taxes through the end of calendar year 2012 (& most likely forever as the Social Security funding problem grows worse), renews expiring unemployment benefits, & once again stops a drop in doctors Medicare compensation.  The bill does not follow one sound economic principle but surely panders for votes from the weak who will be more than happy to take from the strong for as long as the gravy train lasts for them.

 

Below are the lists of "nay" votes in both the House & Senate lead by the usual people we can count on including Michele Bachmann whose voting record of consistency we can only wish we had with Mitt, Newt, or Rick.  Michele joins Sarah Palin as the two most dangerous people in America that the statists have to destroy.  These two marvelous women exude life as bestowed by our Creator & that is why the statists have to destroy them.

 

---- NAYS 132 ---

Ackerman Adams Aderholt Akin Amash Bachmann Bachus Barton (TX) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Bonner Boustany Brooks Broun (GA) Buerkle Burgess Burton (IN) Capuano Cardoza Carter Cassidy Chabot Chaffetz Clarke (NY) Clay Cleaver Connolly (VA) Cooper Costello Cummings Davis (IL) DeFazio DesJarlais Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Edwards Ellison Farenthold Farr Filner Flake Fleming Forbes

Fortenberry Foxx Franks (AZ) Fudge Gallegly Gardner Garrett Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Goodlatte Gowdy Granger Graves (GA) Graves (MO) Griffith (VA) Gutierrez Hall Harris Hastings (FL) Hoyer Johnson (GA) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Jordan Kind King (IA) Kingston Labrador Lamborn Landry Lankford Lee (CA) Lummis Lynch McClintock McCotter McDermott McKinley Mica Miller (FL) Moran Mulvaney Neugebauer Noem

Nugent Olson Pearce Peterson Petri Pingree (ME) Poe (TX) Pompeo Posey Quayle Reyes Roby Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rohrabacher Rokita Ross (FL) Royce Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Sarbanes Schmidt Schrader Scott (VA) Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Simpson Smith (WA) Sullivan Terry Thompson (CA) Thornberry Van Hollen Visclosky Walberg Welch West Whitfield Wilson (FL) Wilson (SC) Wolf Woodall Woolsey

---- NOT VOTING 8 ---

Bono Mack Brown (FL) Campbell

Gosar Paul Payne

Rangel Shuler

 

 

NAYs ---36
Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Cardin (D-MD) Chambliss (R-GA) Coats (R-IN) Coburn (R-OK) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID)	DeMint (R-SC) Enzi (R-WY) Harkin (D-IA) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Johnson (R-WI) Kyl (R-AZ) Lee (R-UT) Manchin (D-WV)	McCain (R-AZ) Mikulski (D-MD) Moran (R-KS) Paul (R-KY) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Sanders (I-VT) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Thune (R-SD) Toomey (R-PA) Warner (D-VA)

Not Voting - 4
Bingaman (D-NM) Kirk (R-IL)	Roberts (R-KS) Vitter (R-LA)

More Responses - A 2012 Election Year Strategy That Will Strengthen America

Well the fur continues to fly as two more heated responses to the subject message came in.  See below.

But before you read them, thanks to another subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net, for sending the link to Judge Napolitano’s closing remarks on Freedom Watch – the best show on TV that was abruptly cancelled by FBN.  Watch quickly because the video will most likely be taken down soon by its owners.

With re to the two additional responses – the first one comes from a Ron Paul supporter in NJ who understands the slow death the establishment Republican Party is sending us to & the second one comes from a decades long friend who lives in PA who has just about had it with Santorum.  They both seem to favor a brokered convention.

---Response #1---

First, I support Jim DeMint in all his efforts, I get the emails and I donate. I wish DeMint would find someone to run in NJ, we need help here Jim!!!!

Second, I don't feel we should rag on the 86 or so freshman congressmen who haven't done what we wanted in their first terms but I would rather send them at least another 86 Tea Party freshman to help the original 86 find their way. If that doesn't work then we will have to remove the original 86 and add others.

Lastly, with thin pluralities that exist in the GOP Primary, I welcome a brokered convention... That just might be the thing Ron Paul would need to get a nomination. If you think you are doing this country a service by supporting anybody but RON PAUL you are just sending America to a slower death than having BO getting re-elected...!!!!

---Response #2---

Hi Doug - you have been working very hard this winter, hoping for good results but the GOP keeps shooting themselves into their feet every time they write a speech. Very discouraged with the candidates and pessimistic about the election. Does Santorum really think he can win over anybody with his constant hammering on religion? And Romney is not winning any friends either. They should be using every appearance to bring down Obama's healthcare, explaining the benefits of the pipeline from Canada, cost of gas, horrible increases in national debt, and on and on. Which state and local candidates can we, in Penna., count on now? Instead of all this crap about the benefits of having a successful business man run the country, and contraceptives and abortion, the true problems should be addressed. When real voters go into the booths to vote, they will be putting their freedom to think for themselves along with solutions for our long-term problems first. Can hardly wait until this election year is over, gets more messy every week! Regards from Jerry and me to you and Carol!

Three Divergent Responses - A 2012 Election Year Strategy That Will Strengthen America

Below are three very divergent partial responses to the subject posting.  I posted all three in their entirety on ReturnToExcellence.net under comments of the subject message.

 

The first predicts a big Tea Party loss, the second a big Republican landslide, & the third hopes for a brokered convention.  I think it best to not count on any of this but rather to roll up our sleeves & get to work following the Jim DeMint model of searching for & supporting candidates who will form the bedrock in leading our country's future.  On this score I congratulate the writer of response # 3 & all of the others who have sincerely told me they are working with their friends, neighbors, & acquaintances to make the important difference we need in the next election.

 

---Response #1 – Predicts Big Tea Party Losses---

 

General population does not want to hear words like spend less or cut deficits.  They prefer "give me more."

 

Do not be surprised if Tea Party loses big in coming election - Congress has very low rating with the people and many will lose their seats.

 

It will take something, like what is happening in Greece to wake people up. Until then "give me more goodies wins."

 

---Response #2 – Predicts Big Republican Win---

 

Doug -  On November 3, 1980, I went to bed depressed after channels 2, 4, and 7 reported the Reagan/Carter election was too close to call. The next day, voters gave Reagan a huge victory. He won by more than eight million popular votes. Did the media get it wrong by design? I never trusted polling data again.  I am predicting a huge Republican landslide in November. Men want to support their families not be supported by the government. I know that runs counter to the script the polling data is selling with 50% of the country receiving handouts. However, the Republican Platform still has not addressed affordable healthcare which, in my opinion, is the Achilles' heel of the Party. Should healthcare spearhead the debates in the fall all bets are off.

 

---Response #3 – Hopes For Brokered Republican Convention---

 

Doug: as I listened to O'Reilly that evening I immediately thought about your continuous points about a prerequisite for U.S. to change its mindset. We still have some time but the window of opportunity is dwindling.

 

Let's focus on O'Reilly comment that "half the country is buying BO strategy of debt providing freebies."  That is why I educate as many people as I can about where our economy is headed. Little by little I am doing my part in changing the "mindset", following up on your request of a few months ago to identify few statists and try to persuade them to change their statist support.

 

And again - I think our best bet may be a brokered convention so we may choose a true economic free market capitalist thinking conservative, as our economy needs quick and drastic rework.

 

Keep up your great work.

A 2012 Election Year Strategy That Will Strengthen America

Now that we have vetted Mitt, Newt, & Rick I have been swamped by comments such as "I know that none of the current candidates are the ideal.  I have no intention of staying home as that is tantamount to giving BO my vote and that will never happen. I'll take my chances with whoever."  This is an ABBO (anybody but BO) voter.   

 

Several other people have written privately with the exact same sentiment about voting ABBO & hope we do better with another candidate in four years. The problem is we have been doing this since Bush senior – how much better was he, Dole, Bush junior, or McCain in the fight against creeping socialism which is now on a rampage to outright communism? – to me these people are really what caused the problem because they could not properly defend the principles of liberty.  Will one more weak candidate followed in four years by who knows what make a difference?  Mitt, Newt, & Rick are not the answer – they are the problem for Republicans, conservatives, & libertarians who love America.

 

A new friend Carol & I made earlier this week @ a Hilton Head higher education conference sent me this note that she referred to as depressing:

 

---CNN (Communist News Network) Breaking News---

 

President Barack Obama's approval rating is back up to 50% for the first time in more than eight months, according to a CNN/ORC International Poll.

 

In the national survey, Obama holds an edge against all the remaining Republican presidential candidates in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. Obama's approval rating appears up slightly among independents.

 

The poll indicates that the GOP's advantage on voter enthusiasm has been erased, and that the number of Americans who think things are going well in the country is on the rise -- from 25% in November to 30% in December and 40% now.

 

                                                                                                               ***

 

Now regular readers of this blog know there is not much new news in this CNN Breaking News.  In fact people have told me that the first half hour of the Valentine's Day O'Reilly Factor was right out of previous blog postings – literally as John Stossel admitted he got the basis for his piece from the internet (RTE?) – click on the January 8, 2012 posting entitled The Debt Ceiling Example Of Why We Need A Mindset Change for the exact same presentation Stossel made.

 

O'Reilly's February 14 Memo was entitled "Are We Becoming A Welfare Nation?"  The text follows – should sound familiar to regular readers:

"President Obama's new budget is financially outrageous - it adds $1.3 trillion in new deficit spending and doesn't cut very much. Mr. Obama apparently believes the massive federal debt is not going to harm the country any time soon. Also, he's calculating that the American voter has changed into a person who wants free stuff from the government and is willing to sacrifice some freedoms in order to get it. And the President may be right. I believe some Americans are simply saying, we don't want to pay the price, we'd rather spend our time on texting, tweeting, gaming, creating our own little worlds. We are not willing to study hard, we don't want to learn a trade, we don't want to go to a demanding college, it's far easier to devote our time to leisurely pursuits and let the government take care of us. That kind of mindset is taking root in this country and that's why we're seeing the huge divide between the progressive party, the Democrats, and the traditional party, the Republicans. President Obama wants voters to believe that massive federal spending will improve their lives and that he will tax the rich in order to make free stuff available. The polls show that about half the country is buying that and it will take a very strong counter-argument from Mr. Obama's opponent to defeat him in November. Free stuff is a powerful lure, no question about it."

 

The Memo is describing Death Of Democracy which I have written & warned of since 2004.  Laura Ingraham agreed with the analysis of Bill's Memo later in the program.  These people act like they are just hearing of this.

 

The real key to America's future is to find candidates who will work to change "that kind of mindset (that) is taking root in this country."  I subscribe & have written about the model presented by SC Senator & Tea Party Leader Jim DeMint who says he would rather have 30 senators like him than 70 like Arlen Specter.  Mitt, Newt, & Rick resemble Specter much more than they do Jim DeMint & accordingly none of them will be the long term mindset changer we need – the burn to socialism will continue with any of them.  Many people will vote ABBO but their energies will be wasted on any of these three candidates if they spend time or money actively supporting them not to mention their credibility.

 

We should seek & find candidates @ every level (federal, state, & local) like Anna Little – NJ senate candidate, or Sam McCann – IL state senate candidate.  The point is to find people preferably in our districts or states who will really make a difference & support them, work for them, & vote them in.  People in Massachusetts have a great chance with the despicable Barney Frank not running again (because the district has changed) – Joe Kennedy is running for his seat.  To replace Frank & defeat Kennedy with the kind of candidate I refer to puts America in the right direction going forward. 

 

Finding & working for these type of people rather than concentrating on defeating BO, who we very well might not & probably will not defeat with any in this current group of three rotten candidates, will pay dividends in the long run as we set a strong base of patriots in office.  Senator DeMint, who spent countless hours & days finding & financially supporting senate candidates in 2010, wrote in the WSJ yesterday "Despite all the hyperventilating about a Tea Party takeover in Congress, the sad truth is that in 2011 Congress increased spending from the year before, raised the debt limit by $2 trillion, & funded ObamaCare."  It is no wonder I reported in April 2011 that only 21 of the 87 new House Republicans voted as they had campaigned.  Those sixty six politicians who deserted their principles (much less campaign promises) within days of being elected should be targeted for replacement – not by the Democrats but by us.  I have named them in many postings but just let me know if you need a reminder who they are – these people are the insidious enemies of America.  We need to do much more than merely vote ABBO & think our job is done – which of course it will be if that is all we do.

 

When you find the right candidate try to get three other people to vote for him – preferably statists to vote for non-statist candidates.  This will help level the "we are outnumbered" principle.  I specifically do not recommend asking people to support Mitt, Newt, or Rick because your credibility will be sorely tested if not destroyed – just ask Ann Coulter who encourages conservatives to give up their values & support Mitt so that Independents will vote him in as president – how pitiful.

 

The above position does not mean we are giving away the presidential election – that may have already been done by the establishment Republican Party.  Following the above strategy & counting on the Supreme Court to declare ObamaCare unconstitutional plus winning a majority with real constitutional leaders in the Senate while holding on to the House (& replacing the current poor leadership) will make BO's second term virtually null & void.

 

Having the patience to work as described above (& voting ABBO if you choose) is helping to set a strong base going forward for our country if it is not too late already.

 

Even the strategy described above is not fool-proof as the population ages & our youth knows nothing of our wonderful heritage & is content to spend down the family wealth – leaving the next generation to rebuild it, if possible.

 

Voting ABBO for Mitt, Newt, or Rick or having BO win a second term is a loser - either way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Response - Santorum's Turn In The Barrel

Thanks to the most hard working person for America that I know for sending his thoughts re last night's posting – virtually there is not a night of the week that goes by that he is not out of his home working for our country.  To me he is our night watchman.  He is a long time subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net & presents another Santorum quote other than the one re libertarians I presented last night & counters his with one from President Reagan.

It is important to realize that in 1776 all of our Founding Fathers were libertarians.  That is the Return To Excellence President Reagan is talking about below.

---Response---

I CAN NOT VOTE FOR SANTORUM... JUST READ HIS QUOTE BELOW... HIS IDEA OF A TRADITIONAL CONSERVATIVE... WELL THAT'S NOT ME AND I WILL NOT HAVE ANY PART OF IT... WHO IS THIS GUY??? IT IS REAGAN WHO HAS IT CORRECT

One Santorum quote... and one quote from Reagan that explains why:

"This whole idea of personal autonomy, well I don't think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn't get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn't get involved in cultural issues. You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can't go it alone." 

Ronald Reagan:

"I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority. Very simply, they want to be left alone in peace and safety to take care of the family by earning an honest dollar and putting away some savings. This may not sound too exciting, but there is something magnificent about it. On the farm, on the street corner, in the factory and in the kitchen, millions of us ask nothing more, but certainly nothing less than to live our own lives according to our values — at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and the world.

Santorum's Turn In The Barrel

Following Rick Santorum's primary & caucus sweeps last week in CO, MO, & MN some people sent me messages like "Doug - You should feel a bit better today."  Others called to ask if Santorum is the answer to our prayers (the savior as one put it) – no pun intended.  He is not.

To give Santorum his turn in the barrel with Newt & Mitt, both of whose positions & baggage were presented over the past two months in vivid detail – if you read theses messages you can't say you don't know these guys, below are some facts about Rick we all should know:

1.  Santorum is virtually a one dimensional candidate – social issues.  Having met him last month @ the Westin Hotel in Hilton Head he comes across as preachy.  Neal Boortz even calls him a theocrat.  Is this part of why he lost his last PA election for U.S. Senate by 18 points to an opponent who did not even show up for scheduled debates?  Carry the swing states? – I don't think so. 

2.  Santorum's economic & tax plan is just about the worst on the Republican side – he uses the tax code to pursue social & political issues in picking his own preferred winners & losers mostly following social issues important to him.  Santorum plays BO's & Romney's game of wanting to eliminate income tax deductions on business & the wealthy while saving some of the costliest deductions like the mortgage interest deduction that is claimed by only about one third of income earners.  He sanctimoniously proposes tripling the tax credit for children (supported by the Christian right) that merely rewards taxpayers who have children over those who don't.  He shows his economic illiteracy in picking manufacturing as a winner charging them no corporate income tax but saying firms like Wal Mart who save American consumers billions of dollars every year don't deserve this type of break.

3.  Point #2 suggests Santorum' protectionist bent.  He voted against NAFTA, supported steel tariffs, & a 27.5% tariff on China for currency manipulation – what does he think caused the Great Depression of the 1930s?

4.  Santorum was a GW Bush compassionate conservative who voted for every spending program Bush proposed starting with Medicare Part D – this is Santorum's link to Mitt & Newt on government healthcare.  He also was an earmark king which he now somewhat apologizes for.

5.  When I met Santorum he told me he is worried about the FairTax's impact on families – a standard answer from those who know nothing about the FairTax - but would consider a consumption tax in his second term.  He concluded that now is not the time for the FairTax with all the problems we have – oh really.  Accordingly, a non-starter now for him.  I pushed the issue & asked him to please give the FairTax a try pointing out how it would help manufacturing – one of his pet projects.  He said he was aware that the FairTax taxed state & local governments & that would be a problem to overcome.  In the five seconds or less that I had @ this point I told him that without this feature governments would get into many businesses that they have no business being in.  He acknowledged this as he was moving on.

6.  "I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement. I don't think the libertarians have it right when it comes to what the Constitution is all about. I don't think they have it right as to what our history is, and we are not a group of people who believe in no government."  Source - Rick Santorum recorded on the Neal Boortz blog.  This ignorant statement by itself turns me against Santorum.

Ron Paul appeared on Deface The Nation yesterday – click here to hear Dr. Paul say that Mitt, Newt, & Rick are each about as conservative as the other two.  The worst part of the interview though is when Dr. Paul points out that 20% of Republicans have said they will either stay home or vote for BO if one of these three candidates is the Republican nominee.  The low turnout stats I have presented recently show that @ least the first of these possibilities is already happening.

Responses - Evidence Shows November Election Only Important To Some

"Y

ou are correct.  Give people free goodies, and they will vote for you.  It is that simple.  Democrats are giving the free goodies. Republicans do not know how to cope with that issue. Saying they want to cut deficits means nothing to average person who is receiving those goodies.  They want the goodies to continue."  This is the typical comment received re the subject message which made the same point highlighting the last two stages of Death Of Democracy.

 

The problem facing America was again illustrated on Friday @ the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) annual meeting when Ann Coulter made a speech (pitch) for Romney by telling all of those in attendance to give up their beliefs & principles & vote for someone who can bring in the Independent vote for the Republican Party nominee.  Think this type of reasoning is not how we got into the mess we are in?

 

There are so many examples of where we go astray from the blessing of liberty we have come to take for granted. 

 

The latest example concerns the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announcing that the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ObamaCare) requires all employers (including religious employers such as the Catholic Church) to directly pay for insurance coverage for contraceptives for their employees  – later accommodated (not compromised) by a BO update to require insurance companies to pay for the contraceptives meaning the cost will be spread around including to the religious organizations.  The original announcement by HHS had support of 39% of the people who saw nothing wrong with the government ordering everyone to have contraceptives in their healthcare programs – never mind the rights of those who have no use for contraceptives such as the Catholic Church, homosexuals, or the elderly.  Think liberty in America is not about to fall.

 

The worst & most vivid recent example of our problem comes from our Wall Street Financial VP who, @ my request to represent the FairTax, attended a Rodney Frelinghuysen Town Hall Meeting in Morris County NJ on Saturday afternoon attended by 18 people.  In this year of supposed national crisis only 18 people, in a strong Republican district, attended a congressional Town Hall meeting.  There were more speakers on the stage representing Catholics United & Catholics For Choice (never mind the size of the audience or those @ the Catholic Universities) applauding what the students perceived as free contraceptives courtesy of BO than attended this Town Hall meeting.

 

I sum this up by going back to another speaker @ the CPAC meeting – the PA AFP state Director – who stripped away the excuses when she said it will do no good to tell your children or grandchildren you went to a soccer game or basketball game on such & such a date – the question is what did you do for America & these children's futures when it was slipping away right through your fingers?

Evidence Shows November Election Only Important To Some

 

    

 

Although many conservatives say the November presidential election is the most important election of our life the facts to date re the primaries do not bear this out.

 

The primary voter turnout numbers continue to be a problem for Republicans who think they will retake the White House with a surge of dissatisfaction with BO. 

 

As previously reported Iowa & NH did have small increases in their primary turnouts but not as high as expected.  SC had an increase also but the totals fell short of expectations & did not keep pace with population growth. Florida had an actual decrease (-14%) as did Nevada (-26%), Colorado (-6%), Minnesota (-22%) & Missouri (-57%).  Overall, the Republican primary vote total is down 13% to date or 450,000 less voters in 2012 than in 2008 @ this same point.

 

These figures make it hard to believe that the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with BO or their plight in life in 2012 America as they see it regardless of the messages I read from readers of this blog.

 

The poor Republican field of rotten flawed candidates is just part of the problem – although this ensures us no chance. 

 

The dominant force working against us is the Death Of Democracy of the American Republic where we are on the slippery slope of the apathy to dependence stage from which we can quickly descend into the dependence back to bondage stage where this cycle has always ended for every democracy.  America, after the 2012 election would be the exception – if it doesn't happen.

 

Just look @ the above two graphs to see what is working against us – the lines @ the far right of both graphs are virtually straight up.  In the first graph there are now 45 million Americans on food stamps @ a cost of over $75 billion per year to taxpayers up from 28 million people in 2008 @ a cost of $38 billion per year.  In the second graph we see that as unemployment benefits run out people find a way to transfer their dependence to disability benefits.  Both are examples of BO's design for making everyone government dependent.

 

Do you know more people who want to create wealth or be the recipients of the redistribution of wealth?

 

Throughout history, including current events, there have been countries where the majority of the citizenry longed for government control of their lives.  All of the above information, coupled with only 29% of all Americans saying they are paying close attention to the Republican primaries & only 22% of those under age 49 saying they are paying attention can only make you think that the November 2012 election is important if you are fighting for the heritage of our country & to hold on to everything you have ever worked for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RomneyCare - ObamaCare - One & The Same

"Rotten candidates - excellent description" was a typical comment I received to the recent posting The Republican Problems - Turn Out & Rotten Candidates.  "I am starting to think that brokered convention may be best.  Is it too late for DeMint to enter or Huckabee to reconsider?" are among the others.  In any event what we do need is a candidate of principle who we can recommend with confidence to others (statists) to have any chance @ all to beat BO in November.

I am not trying to pile on or be mean spirited but Romney followed up his pitiful politically losing "I'm not concerned about the poor" comment by pandering saying he favors a minimum wage indexed for inflation.  I don't know one credible economist who supports such a position – & certainly I don't.  Romney obviously has no principles but will say anything he thinks will win votes – then if he is elected the rest of us don't know what we have.  Is that better than BO?

But it is even worse than that, if possible.  Please click on this link to hear Grace-Marie Turner, President of the Galen Institute, describe the similarities between RomneyCare & ObamaCare.  Turner backs up Santorum's recent debate claim that there are 15 very close similarities between the two health care plans and even cites John McDonough (the man she says designed both plans) as saying that ObamaCare is RomneyCare with three more zeros.

Rick Santorum recently said that we cannot afford to give away the healthcare issue to BO.  This video proves that is exactly what the establishment Republican Party is doing by continuing to favor Romney.

Congresses' Insider Trading Crimes

Below is an article about currently legal insider stock trading by Members of Congress sent to us by a long time subscriber who specializes in these type of messages.  The article reports that Members of Congress outperform the general public by 6% to 12% based on their stocks trades using insider information – a practice that is illegal if used by the general public.

After years of delay this topic has recently gained publicity following several media reports about lawmakers stock trading practices that brought it to the fore.  Earlier last week the Senate voted 96 to 3 to pass the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act (Stock Act) – a bill to prohibit Members of Congress & employees of Congress from using nonpublic information derived from their official positions for personal benefit.  The bill is expected to move to the House this week.

The three negatives votes were cast by Coburn (OK) & his working friend Burr (NC), & Bingaman (NM).  Kirk (IL) did not vote.

To learn why Tom Coburn voted against the measure click here.  Senator Coburn exposes a far more serious insider trading crime than the one described in the Stock Act.  This one  goes virtually unnoticed or @ least certainly unmentioned in Washington.   

A recent column in the WSJ by Holman W. Jenkins Jr. provides stats that show even using the currently legal congressional insider trading practices that these politicians actually still lose money most of the time.  Mr. Jenkins concludes that the real crime is not how Congress treats their own money but rather how they treat ours.

Elected Insiders: Why the STOCK Act Matters to You

By Rich Smith – The Motley Fool Posted 1:00 PM 01/20/12

• Salary of rank-and-file members of the U.S. Congress: $174,000.
• Average annual Civil Service Retirement System benefits for retired members as of 2007: $63,696.
• Profits legislators can make by trading on inside information: Priceless.

For more than five years, Congress has been looking into alleged conflicts of interest on Capitol Hill, investigating whether its members are trading stocks on "inside information" that they acquire while doing the people's business.

Four times in that period, lawmakers in the House have introduced the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act to bar members from investing based on knowledge they gained in the course of their duties.

Three times, the proposed STOCK Act has died in committee. Will the fourth time be the charm? We'll find out soon when the Senate returns to work and joins the House of Representatives, which went back into session this week.

Something's Rotten in the District of Columbia

A lot of people have a lot to lose if this bill becomes law.

Late last year, 60 Minutes ran a report on the phenomenon of insider trading in Congress. Among the allegations leveled were suggestions that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) received preferential access to the Visa IPO -- just before the House began considering laws to regulate the credit card industry. The report also suggested that current Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) traded health-care stocks in 2009, even as his party was actively fighting a new law to reform health care. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that rank-and-file members, and their staffers, were actively shorting U.S. Treasury bond funds in the middle of the financial crisis.

Two studies conducted by professor Alan Ziobrowski of Georgia State University suggest this problem has been going on for years.

The original study, published in 2004, found that stock market investments made by U.S. senators outperformed returns on the S&P 500 by 12 percentage points annually. A more recent study of trades made by U.S. representatives found a 6-point outperformance among House members -- less impressive than their senatorial brethren, but equivalent to what you might find among corporate officers trading shares of their own companies' stocks.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, co-author of the STOCK Act, explains: "If a congressman learns that his committee is about to do something that would affect a company, he can go trade on that because he is not obligated to keep that information confidential." There's no law that explicitly permits this, mind you. But there's no law that forbids it, either.

Barring censure by the House itself for acting "unethically," there's currently nothing anybody can do about it.

There Ought To Be a Law

This, in a nutshell, is why the STOCK Act is important. As matters stand, when you log onto your discount brokerage account and place an order to sell shares of ExxonMobil, for example, it's entirely possible that the guy buying them from you is a congressman who knows there's an oil and gas industry lobbyist making the rounds on Capitol Hill seeking tax breaks for Exxon. Or you may find yourself buying shares of Google -- from some senator who's working on the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The chances of this happening are small, to be sure. But just knowing -- or even suspecting -- that when you invest in stocks, you may be playing a rigged game against a government official in the know, could shake confidence in the stock market.

What America needs, and what Americans deserve, is a level playing field. We need to know that the laws Congress writes apply to them, and not just to us.

A Bit of Good News

Now here's the good news: For the first time since the STOCK Act's first introduction five years ago, there's a chance that this law will pass. Bipartisan conflicts among House leaders notwithstanding, the STOCK Act has one advantage working in its favor: tripartisan support.

And no, that's not a typo. In the Senate, STOCK Act legislation is sponsored by both Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Last month, the two senators' bills went into the Homeland Security Committee and came out with support from, among others, Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The bill might actually make it to the Senate floor for a vote. And in the House, the STOCK Act has attracted support from both sides of the aisle -- and an astounding 246 co-sponsors -- a 56% majority in its favor, before the bill even comes up for a vote.

Of course, this still means there are 189 House Representatives who still need convincing. Is your representative one of them?

The Republican Problems - Turn Out & Rotten Candidates

 

The above graph indicates exactly what I have been afraid of – namely the top three rotten Republican candidates for president will turn off a portion of the electorate who will stay home in November & hand the presidency back to BO.  Not that any of them are anything but marginally better.  We are the losers in a two party system where each party plays us for fools as the tax & spend yo-yo repeatedly goes up & down. 

 

Iowa & NH did have small increases in their turnouts but it was not as high as they expected.  SC had an increase also but the totals fell short of expectations & did not keep pace with population growth.  Florida had an actual decrease – you can argue why for a number of reasons.

 

In summary, the GOP is counting on a fired up electorate to come out in record numbers to unseat BO & we have seen no indication that will happen based on the numbers so far in the primaries. 

 

Now there was a bright spot reported by Jeffrey Jones, Gallup Politics, in that only ten states currently have a positive approval rating of BO including the big states of California, Illinois, & New Jersey – all three of which are barely over 50% – see list below. 

 

The problem is if BO's opponent is Mitt Romney, who has been running for president for over five years, still can say things like "I'm not concerned about the poor" & upon further explaining this statement says "You can focus on the very poor, that's not my focus" you are in trouble.  Think BO will lose to Mitt who will try to explain the difference between RomneyCare & ObamaCare?

 

The solution for America is to find genuine candidates @ every level of government & back them by each of us finding three statists & showing them why they should vote for anti-statist candidates for mayor, council, Congress, & Senate.  The presidential race may be gone so we need a strong base to fight off BO's socialist onslaught that is sure to come.

 

In this regard I am extremely pleased that my nephew who turned 18 just a few days ago wrote to Carol & me today to let us know that his citizenship teacher gave him a voter registration form that he filled out & mailed the next day thereby making him the kind of registered voter we need.  I give my brother-in-law all of the credit for the upbringing of his son – now he needs to find two more such voters.